2011

Kermit Gosnell was also an abortion provider in Delaware, where abortion facilities are not subject to inspections.

After news of Gosnell’s case broke, fellow abortion providers Drs. Albert Dworkin and Arturo Apolinario had their licenses suspended for failing to report Gosnell for performing late-term abortions at Atlantic Women’s Medical Services in Wilmington, DE, where he worked one day a week.[1]

Apolinario, like Gosnell, is charged with prescribing drugs illegally.[2]

Both Atlantic Women’s Medical clinic locations were permanently closed (before a hearing could take place) after an agreement was reached between the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and clinic owner Panzy Myrie, a woman who portrayed herself as a medical doctor in advertisements - though she holds no license in Delaware.[3]

Both clinics were members of the National Abortion Federation until the details of their abuses came to the attention of the news media.

2013

On April 10, WPVI-TV ABC News in Philadelphia, PA reported that two former nurses at the Planned Parenthood of Delaware abortion clinic quit their jobs, citing unsafe, unsanitary conditions, and “a meat-market style of assembly-line abortions.”[4]

Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and Joyce Vasikonis called the clinic conditions “ridiculously unsafe,” and said women were at risk for hepatitis and even AIDS.

Planned Parenthood Delaware has suspended surgical abortion procedures at their Wilmington and Dover clinics as a result of ongoing investigations by the state Division of Professional Regulation and the state Division of Public Health.[5]

Planned Parenthood of Delaware has sent five women to the hospital with complications from botched abortions since January alone.[6]

Disgraced former Planned Parenthood Delaware abortionist Dr. Timothy Liveright is shown to be operating in clinics in New Jersey,[7] Pennsylvania[8], and California.[9]

Illinois – The Death of Tonya Reaves

2012

On July 20, 24-year-old Tonya Reaves died following a second-trimester abortion at a Chicago Planned Parenthood.[10]

Autopsy results reveal that Ms. Reaves died as a result of a hemorrhage following a botched surgical abortion. The autopsy reported that she was a healthy woman at the time of her abortion but that she suffered an “extensive” perforation of her broad uterine ligament with a possible severing of her left uterine artery as a result of the abortion procedure.[11]

The autopsy also revealed that the abortion was incomplete as the medical examiner discovered that pieces of placenta had been left attached to her womb, despite the dilation and evacuation (D & E) abortion performed by Planned Parenthood. Reports indicate that Planned Parenthood ignored instructions by an emergency dispatcher to call 911.[12]

2013

On February 7, Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, a 29-year-old kindergarten teacher from New Rochelle, NY, died “due to or as a consequence of Amniotic Fluid Embolism following Medical Termination of Pregnancy.” The medical examiner’s office confirmed that a botched 33-week abortion killed Mrs. Morbelli.[13]

When she was 31 weeks pregnant, Mrs. Morbelli sought an abortion from Dr. Leroy Carhart in Germantown, MD. Carhart left town shortly after the abortion procedure and was reportedly unavailable when Mrs. Morbelli began to experience shortness of breath and chest pains - which led to a delay in her emergency care.[14]

In March, the Maryland Department of Health and Hygiene suspended the licenses of three surgical abortion clinics. All three are affiliated with abortion business owner Steven Chase Brigham.[15]

Inspections of the abortion clinics revealed they were continuing to violate state health and safety laws after the initial violations that prompted the state investigations in the first place.

In April 2010, an 18-year-old New Jersey woman was critically injured during an abortion at a clinic in Elkton, MD and was airlifted to Baltimore hospital from Brigham’s facility.[16]

The physician who performed the abortion at Associates in OB/GYN Care LLC on North Calvert Street in Baltimore wasn't certified in CPR and a defibrillator at the facility did not work, according to state officials in a letter to the General Assembly. The other two clinics that lost surgical privileges, located in Landover and Silver Spring, are also owned by Associates in OB/GYN Care and also had licenses suspended for issues related to the ability to respond to life-threatening problems during surgery.[17]

In November, 2011 late-term abortionist James S. Pendergraft and his accomplice Harold O. Alexander were caught operating an illicit late-term abortion mill in Forestville, MD through the website www.LateTermAbortion.net. Pendergraft – who is not licensed in Maryland – was caught on tape.[18] On August 22, 2012 the Maryland State Board of Physicians suspended Harold O. Alexander’s license for a minimum of three months.[19]

2013

In January 2013, an abortion clinic in Muskegon, MI was shut down by the fire marshal over conditions the city described as potentially “dangerous to human life or the public welfare.”[20]

Dr. Robert Alexander’s abortion clinic was closed after police discovered "filthy" and unsanitary conditions throughout the clinic, including “blood on the floor and walls in multiple locations.”[21]

Photos taken by the police revealunsanitary conditions, including stained medical equipment near an examination chair, trash near lab equipment and discarded in a storage room, and water stains and holes in a leaky ceiling. The investigator also reported “blood dripping from a sink p-trapin a room used by patients.”[22]

Other violations noted in the fire marshal’s inspection include improper disposal of syringes and needles, unsterilized medical equipment, as well as the “dumping of chemicals and other liquids down drains without proper authorization and approvals.”[23]

In May, local media reported that in 2009, the Michigan Board of Medicine received a complaint about botched abortions at Alexander’s clinic, including one that ruptured a woman’s uterus, causing bleeding but still resulted in the birth of a live child, but the board did not investigate it.

Then Michigan Board Chairman Dr. George Shade Jr., Alexander’s mentor, determined that no investigation was necessary.

Dr. Alexander served prison time in the 1990’s for selling illegal prescriptions.[24]

Two more Michigan clinics (in Livonia and Detroit) were closed in March. Both clinics were owned and operated by abortionist Dr. Reginald Sharpe. The Livonia clinic was exposed several years ago for the dumping of fetal remains in a dumpster outside the facility.[25]

Dr. Sharpe was sued in 2008 after his 26-year-old patient died of complications following her abortion. It was later revealed that the abortion had resulted in the perforation of the woman’s uterus, cut a uterine blood vessel, and lacerated her intestines and liver.[26]

2010

In February 2010, the bodies of 17 aborted babies were discovered in a business dumpster outside the WomansChoice abortion clinic near Lansing. Investigations revealed that the owners were Richard and Maggie Remund, owners of another clinic where the bodies of 47 aborted babies were discovered in a dumpster in 1989[27].

Additionally, the business dumpster contained medical records, including patient logs with full names and insurance information, bloody surgical material, and used urine specimen cups labeled with the names of the patients.

2009

In March 2009, the Board of Medicine found several of the staff (including abortionist Dr. Alberto Hodari) to been negligent in the shocking 2003 death of Regina Johnson and they were fined[28].

7 months later, a Bureau of Health Systems inspection found the Womancare of Southfield to be substandard.

The clinic was cited for incompliance with state surgical facility standards, including no oxygen available for patients, no emergency call system, and an insufficient recovery room.

Between 2007 and 2009, the Bureau of Health Systems cited 3 abortion clinics licensed as free standing surgical facilities (Birth Control Center Inc. in Sterling Heights, Feminine Health Care of Flint, and Womancare of Southfield) for noncompliance with state regulations for surgical facilities regarding the administration and storage of medication.

Violations at the Womancare Clinic were found to be especially deplorable during a 2009 inspection[29]. Violations included:

No physician’s order for a medication that had been sent home with a patient and no physician signature verifying several other medication orders.

Hallway cupboards with medications and an unsecured refrigerator with medications in patient areas where patients are left unattended.

Unsecured medications included Ketamine, a controlled substance often sold illegally as a “club drug” and used as a date-rape drug.

Narcotics logs were insufficient or nonexistent.

The Bureau of Health Systems conducted 3 onsite surveys of abortion clinics (Birth Control Center Inc. in Sterling Heights, Feminine Health Care of Flint, and Womancare of Southfield) from 2007 to 2009.

All three were cited for non-compliance with state surgical facility requirements regarding equipment sterilization, maintenance of sterile environment, and sterile pre-operation hand washing.

In one startling example, at the Birth Control Center Inc. in Sterling Heights, the abortionist Richard Goldfine scrubbed his hands for procedures in a sink which was holding unsterile equipment used for emptying and processing waste and fetal remains.[30]

A 20-year-old woman, Caitlin Bruce, alleges that Dr. Alberto Hodari of the Feminine Health Care clinic in Flint performed an abortion on her even though she screamed for him to stop[31].

Ms. Bruce claims that she told him to stop that she didn’t want to have the abortion anymore[32].

Ms. Bruce asserts she was held down and her mouth was covered by a staff member.

In 2009, a Grand Rapids Ob/Gyn filed an allegation against abortionist Robert Alexander citing his gross negligence in attempting an abortion on a woman who was 26 weeks pregnant[33].

The OB/Gyn treated the patient who came into the hospital still pregnant following the incomplete abortion.

The patient told the OB/Gyn that Dr. Alexander’s office had called her multiple times to offer her a refund of the abortion fee, plus an additional $200.

The woman did not accept and retained an attorney.

2008

It was uncovered in 2008 that abortion clinics in the Detroit area were disposing of biohazard waste and patient records simply by dumping them in common trash receptacles[34].

Three locations (WomanCare of Southfield in Lathrup Village, WomanCare in Sterling Heights, and WomanCare of Downriver in Southgate) had bloody surgical material and a total of over 200 patient records in the trash. These patient records included photocopies of drivers' licenses, insurance forms, and lab reports.

The Lathrup Village location had the remains of 18 aborted babies in the trash.

At the Woman’s Choice Clinic in Lansing, Dr. Ronald Nichols was in the middle of performing an abortion when he determined the gestational age to be 20 weeks and stopped the procedure, despite already having rupturing the fetal membranes[35].

Dr. Nichols advised the patient, who was bleeding and in pain, to drive 80 miles to his Bloomfield Hills abortion clinic to complete procedure.

When she refused, Nichols forced her to sign a waiver.

Patient drove home and was taken by her family to the hospital where the staff confirmed the rupture of fetal membranes.

The patient’s 20.5 week baby died in utero the following day.

The Board of Medicine found Nichols to be negligent and incompetent, fined him $10,000, and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service.

At the Womancare Clinic of Southfield, a patient alleges that she received no local anesthesia and tried to stop procedure due to her extreme pain[36].

The patient was allegedly held down and female assistant put hand over the patient’s mouth.

2013

On May 13, 2013, A Preferred Women's Health Center abortion clinic in Charlotte was closed after state officials revoked its license to operate on May 10, calling it emergency action to address "an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients."[37]

Previously last December, inspectors from the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services found dead insects, blood splatters and dirty surgical instruments inside the abortion facility.[38]

This time, they found that the facility was improperly administering chemical abortions and improperly examining post-abortive women before they were discharged from surgery. Women were being told to drink methotrexate, originally a chemotherapy drug now also used to abort a baby at less than 9 weeks gestation, when it is supposed to be administered by injection.[39]

Ohio – More Clinic Shutdowns and Staff Failure

2013

In April 2013, the Ohio Department of Health announced its intent to shut down Capital Care Network abortion clinic in Cuyahoga Falls due to multiple health and safety violations. During Capital Care’s annual inspection, investigators cited multiple violations under 10 various inspection categories ranging from cleanliness, surgical procedures and staff requirements.[40]

Among many violations, the abortion facility failed to perform TB testing, used unqualified and untrained staff, failed to meet sanitary standards and failed to properly keep patient documentation and had dozens of other operational and medical failures.[41]

Pennsylvania – Gosnell’s House of Horrors

2009

On November 19,Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old immigrant from Bhutan, and a Virginia resident, died as a result of an abortion she received at the hands of now infamous Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The medical examiner’s report indicates that Mrs. Mongar died as a result of an overdose of Demerol.[42]

Mongar was 19 weeks pregnant and had been referred to Dr. Gosnell’s facility by a Washington, D.C. area abortion clinic.[43]

A Gosnell clinic worker assisted in administering local anesthesia and when Mongar’s face turned gray and her breathing slowed, Gosnell continued to perform the abortion and did not order that 911 be called until after the procedure was finished.[44]

Gosnell could not resuscitate Mrs. Mongar himself as his defibrillator was broken.[45]

2011

Following Gosnell, Pennsylvania has once again been inspecting abortion clinics. Multiple facilities have shut down due to failure to meet the regulations. In 2011, Abortion as an Alternative Inc., which had clinics in Bensalem and Philadelphia, closed.[46]

The clinics were operated by Dr. Soleiman M. Soli. The Department of Health found “drugs decades past their expiration dates, inadequate or inoperable equipment, poor record-keeping and mishandling of fetal tissue.”[47]

Allentown Medical Services in Allentown was cited for “preparing to use unsterilized instruments on patients, having drugs and single-use devices that were past their expiration dates, and for splattering blood on the walls and on the floor of a scrub room freezer.”[48]

2012

American Women's Services, Pittsburgh[49], and Allentown Medical Services, Allentown[50], closed because complaints revealed violations that could not be fixed. The Department of Health said that the former owner of Allentown Medical Services, Dr. Steven Brigham, “showed a ‘serial’ disregard for health regulations.”[51]

Allegheny Women's Center closed rather than meet the inspection regulations.[52]

Virginia – 80 Violations Even with Notice of Inspection

2012

Virginia Health Commission inspection reports obtained by The Family Foundation through the Freedom of Information Act reveal unsafe and “utterly disgusting” conditions in Virginia abortion clinics.[53]

Improper disposal of fetal remains including frozen blood and remains at the bottom of the freezer, after contents had spilled out of a unclosed plastic bag (Tidewater Women’s Health Clinic, Norfolk)[56]

The director of Tidewater Women’s Health Clinic in Norfolk, Dr. David Peters, claimed that the inspectors’ observations were flat wrong and none of the violations affected patient care. The violations found at his clinic included spilled blood and “products of conception” (fetal remains) being stored in the freezer.[61]

Louisiana – More Connections to Gosnell

2010

The Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge is the former employer of Gosnell employee, Eileen O’Neill, who was also arrested in Philadelphia.[62] O’Neill was introduced to Gosnell by Delta’s owner, Leroy Brinkley, who also owned Atlantic Women’s Services in Wilmington, Delaware.[63]

In 2010, the Delta Clinic was accused by the Department of Health and Hospitals of failing to ensure the clinic had a “quality assurance program.” The report indicated that the clinic did not provide women adequate protections for their privacy and did not monitor patients receiving sedation “regarding their cardiac status, respiratory status and level of consciousness during the medical procedure.”[64]

2003

Dr. Brian Finkel was convicted on 22 counts of sexually abusing patients over 17 years. During Finkel's three-month trial, a parade of victims told of sexual abuse that included twisting their nipples, kissing them or fondling them inappropriately during exams. Finkel performed more than 30,000 abortions over the past 20 years and was a national figure in the 1990s through his frequent appearances on network talk shows.[65]

2011

Planned Parenthood in Mercer County, NJ was inspected and found to be in non-compliance with safety regulations.

The state Board of Health found several violations including: improper use of syringes and compounds, improper training and qualifications of staff on pain management and health care counseling (including abortion services), failure to have infection control program in place, failure to require physical exam for staff and failure to test staff for rubella, rubella and TB tests, improper use and sterilization of medical instruments and devices, including a vaginal ultrasound, failure to maintain hot running water in patient care areas, and many more.[82]?

In February of 2011, an employee of Planned Parenthood of Central Jersey, in Perth Amboy, NJ, was caught on videotape by Live Action aiding and abetting an undercover investigator posing as a sex trafficker of minor girls as young as 13.

Amy Woodruff referred the alleged pimp and prostitute to the Metropolitan Medical Association if ever in need of an abortion where “their protocols aren’t as strict as ours and they don’t get audited the same way that we do.”[83]

When asked how long after the abortion until the girls can engage in sex again, Woodruff says “minimum of 2 weeks.” When asked what the girls could do to make money, Woodruff advises, “Waist up, or just be that extra action walking by.”[84]

Woodruff was fired after Live Action’s investigation became public.[85]

2010

Steven Bingham, who has operated facilities in Maryland, loses his only remaining medical license when the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners suspends it, calling him “a clear and imminent danger to public health.” In 1996, New Jersey regulators try to revoke Brigham's license for botching bi-state abortions. An administrative judge reinstates the license.[66]

2007

Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood, NJ, a late term abortion clinic, was shut down for botching an abortion and almost killing a woman. When the state went in, they found filthy and unsanitary conditions and shut down the clinic. It later reopened.[73]

Florida – Late-Term Abortionist Who Has Failed to Protect Babies Born Alive Continues to Operate

2011

Abortionist James Scott Pendergraft owns five late-term abortion clinics in Florida and had his medical license suspended five times for repeated botched abortions.[67]

Pendergraft's medical license is also suspended in Virginia, and expired in Maryland and the District of Columbia.[68]

In July 2011, Pendergraft, who has also been convicted of “attempted extortion …mail fraud ... conspiracy to commit extortion, mail-fraud, and perjury[69],” was party to a lawsuit in which the jury awarded a plaintiff $36.7 million. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2001 botched abortion in which a baby girl was born alive and has suffered lifelong handicaps.[70]

He employs abortionists throughout the state of Florida who do late-term abortions for $2,000 and up and the abortions take place even while his own license is under suspension.[71]

Pendergraft’s associate, Randall Whitney has testified that babies have been born alive and delivered in the toilet all the time and many times are “still alive, wiggling around in the toilet.”[72]

2005

WORLD Magazine reported that an abortion at one of Pendergraft’s clinics resulted in a woman giving birth to a “live pre-term baby” who died “after abortion workers refused to render aid or call for emergency help.”[73]

The woman saw her baby curl up as though cold, then “screamed for clinic workers to call 911”. When they wouldn’t a friend of the woman who had undergone the abortion called 911 on her cell phone.[74]

2013

In May, Operation Rescue released a report revealing that 3 former staff members of the Aaron Women’s Clinic in Houston had come forward with evidence of horrific late term abortions conducted by abortionist Douglas Karpen[75].

The photos depicted two babies aborted well beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks in Texas. Their necks had been cut. The physical condition of the babies reveals that it is likely that the babies had already been born when they killed.

Testimony from the former workers indicates that Dr. Karpen was committing both very late term abortions and infanticide. Patients would be administered doses of Cytotec, a drug that causes strong and unpredictable uterine contractions, to induce labor and then the abortion would take place.

“When he did an abortion, especially an over 20 week abortion, most of the time the fetus would come completely out before he cut the spinal cord or he introduced one of the instruments into the soft spot of the fetus, in order to kill the fetus,” stated former surgical assistant Deborah Edge. According to Edge, babies born alive were a common occurrence.

According to Edge, sometimes Karpen would kill the babies by “twisting the head off the neck.”

The whistle blowers also contend that numerous other abuses took place at Aaron Women’s Clinic including:

Falsification of ultrasounds to produce younger fetal ages of babies over the legal limit or older fetal ages to extract more money out of women.

Fraudulent billing practices.

Surgical equipment not properly sterilized and reuse of disposable instruments.

Unqualified workers drawing and administering drugs.

Hiring nurses through a temp agency to work only on days when inspections are scheduled.

Mistreating and inappropriately touching women while under sedation.

Sexual harassment.

The Harris County District Attorney’s office has announced that they are currently investigating the matter[77].

Records obtained by Texas Right to Life[78] reveal that 14 Texas abortion clinics have been cited for serious health violations between July 2011 - 2012. Violations included:

Unsecured, open vials and unlabeled syringes were stored throughout abortion facilities.

Methotrexate, a dangerous drug used for abortion, was left open, unsecured, and unlocked in a room, in violation of state and federal law.

Instrument packages in a treatment room had broken sterile seals and vials containing Lidocaine were not sterile.

Patient records indicating that patients were released without vital signs being taken.

Expired equipment and medications being used.

2011

The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) found in June that Whole Women’s Health of Austin abortion had improperly disposed of fetuses[79][80].

The clinic had sent the aborted babies to a medical waste contractor, which subjected them to steam disinfection along with other medical waste generated at the facility. The contractor then sent the waste to a landfill.

The law forbids human body parts, fetuses or products of abortions from being disposed of in landfills.

TCEQ also cited Whole Women’s Health in McAllen, TX in September 2011 for the improper disposal of human remains after the discovery of unborn babies in dumpsters outside the clinic[81].

2013

Itai Gravely, a 26-year-old woman, filed suit against the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia and abortionist Rodney Lee Stephens after Stephens allegedly forced Ms. Gravely to proceed with an abortion against her will and then left her dead baby’s head inside her womb.[89]

Ms. Gravely changed her mind about the abortion after adequate anesthesia could not be administered.

Dr. Stephens ordered clinic workers to physically restrain Ms. Gravely as he proceeded with the abortion.

The next day, Ms. Gravely was rushed to the emergency room where it was discovered that dismembered body parts, including the head, of her child had been left in her womb.

Kermit Gosnell is not alone. The horrors revealed during his case are endemic to the entire abortion industry. Evidence of multi-state abortion industry brutality is prompting a long overdue conversation in our country: Where do we step in to protect the rights of the most vulnerable?